Not a pretty sight, right? Inspections have passed, Closing is 7 days away and several floor tiles "Tented-Up" about a 1/4 inch in a laundry room. in Venice Florida! Worse yet, it seemed, their were no spare tiles in the attic or garage, Yikes! Well, all was not lost as I had experienced this once before when a dozen tiles "tented" right down the kitchen floor. Here is the WHY. Photo on left shows the cleaned up area beneath 4 full and a couple of partial tiles... the whole area had paint beneath that was wiped up with a damp cloth, and 95% of the Thin-Set (mortar) that is suppose to bond the tile to the concrete slab came up WITH the tile, as is shown close up in the other photo. You can't see the mortar on the turned over tile piece because it is covered with the paint that was on the concrete slab!
The WHY came about as the painter at new construction (as they all do in Florida) stood a few doors together and spray-painted them directly on the uncovered concrete, leaving over-spray as though it didn't matter for the floor will get carpet or tile. Well, it DOES matter as tile-setting Thin-Set or mortar does not bond to paint on concrete. So the tile merely sits on the floor and is held in place by the grout, until someday when enough expansion occurs to force the loose tiles to "Tent-Up".
The FIX when no matching tile are available (and Closing Lurks) is to use a hand-held Grinder fitted with a concrete wheel to remove the mortar from the underside of the subject tile, then re-set with new Thin-Set and Grout.
So, unless the painter takes his/her time to paper under the door painting areas, tile will not set properly in those areas and some REALTOR down the road will near-panic the week of Closing!
